The invention relates to a food retainer for food to an animal. The food retainer comprises a base and a number of protrusions extending upwards from the upper surface of the base of the food retainer in distances from each other.
More specifically the invention relates to a food retainer for domestic animals, e.g. dogs. However, the retainer may by used for any desired animal, including wild animals held in captivity in a zoo.
In the context of the present invention the upper surface of the base of the food retainer is considered to be when the food retainer is in position of use, i.e. when the retainer is presenting food to an animal.
Wild animals living in the nature need to struggle and fight in order to supply themselves with sufficient food in order to survive. The often hard life of wild animals will however stimulates the animals intelligence and physique, contributing to keeping them healthy, in good shape and maintaining the best possible position for the animals continued survival.
Domestic animals however lack such challenges since the food usually is served in such way that the animals easy and quickly can consume the food without making any effort. Rapid consumption of food may however be detrimental for the animal, which afterwards often is belching, vomiting and releasing malodorous air from the stomach.
Furthermore, the lack of stimulation may led to lowering the intelligence and physique of domestic animals in comparison with the intelligence and physique of wild animals. The lack of stimulation moreover makes a domestic animal lazy, such that the animal often is sleeping much of the day away, eventually resulting in that the animal's health is suffering.
For avoiding these problems, which are very unpleasant for both the animal and the owner of the animal, feeding dishes equipped with means for motivating the animal to eat in a relatively slow pace have been developed. In this respect the animal is being spared for the often injurious consequences to the health and to the physical well being of the animal of eating too fast, for example by swallowing all the food at once.
As an example of such improved construction can be mentioned the feeding dish known from the patent application WO 2009/029999. Said application discloses a feeding dish comprising a base and a circumferential sidewall extending from the periphery of the base. A number of protrusions in form of cylinders with domed tops are moreover extending upwards from the base in mutual distances from each other. The protrusions are further divided into a first group with one height and a second group with a lower height.
Said protrusions functions as obstructions thereby motivating the animal to eat a slower pace. The animal can however still get hold of the food in an easy and comfortable way, but now only in smaller portions. The known retainer does therefore not offer the animal the same challenges wild animals faces in the nature when they are struggling for their survival.
The known dish does in this respect not stimulate the inherent nature of animals even though the eating process makes up an important part of the life of pets, and the known retainer will neither stimulate the intelligence and physique of domestic animals nor will it keep them healthy and active contrary to the desires of the owners of the animals.